The radical changes of the climate crisis are clearly noticeable in Greenland.

That is why the Government of Greenland recently took a historic decision.

All future exploration for oil and natural gas will be stopped.

The decision means that one of the world's largest known oil reserves will be left untouched.

"It is time to look for oil and gas in the Arctic," said Greenland's Minister of Ministers Naaja Nathanielsen.

The decision was made partly for climate reasons, but also because sustainable development is good for the important tourism industry.

The melting is visible in several places

Greenlanders are experiencing climate change on their skin.

Hungry polar bears intrude into the villages.

The ice sheets are shrinking and at a time when the melting ice is neither bearing nor breaking, hunters are forced to kill their sled dogs.

The people who master one of the world's most severe climates are now experiencing how their lives are changing rapidly.  

The effects of the meltdown will not stop in the Arctic.

The Gulf Stream, which gives us in Scandinavia mild winters and warm, green summers is weakening.

But now the researchers see signs that the ocean current is slowing down by up to 20 percent, partly because the salt water is diluted with the sweet melt water.

No decisions from the G20 countries

A collapse would lead to a colder climate in Sweden but also to precipitation and climate change all over the world.

The most likely explanation for this summer's extreme weather is that the jet stream circling the Arctic has been disturbed by the rapid warming.

Weather conditions risk getting stuck and giving extreme precipitation, or heat waves. 

But despite the extreme weather that prevailed this summer, the G20 countries did not succeed in taking a concrete decision to reduce emissions.

The warming will be a commercial opportunity

Admittedly, it was agreed to keep the heating below 1.5 degrees, but the decisions to get there were not made.

A report by the research group Paris Equity Check states that if all the countries in the world behaved like China, Australia, Russia and Brazil, the planet would go towards five degrees warming and a world with more heat waves, floods and extreme weather.

Despite the climate crisis, decision-makers are staring into the white eye, the necessary decisions are not made. 

Instead, they cast lustful glances at the Arctic, seeing the warming as a commercial opportunity.  

New waterways open in the ice-free waters.

In 2018, for the first time, a large container ship forced its way through the Arctic passage north of Russia.

Goods from China have a shorter delivery time.

This year, Norway issued 30 permits to explore oil in the Arctic and provides the state oil company Equinor (formerly Statoil) with subsidies for exploration for new oil.

Norwegian environmental organizations have appealed all the way to the Norwegian Supreme Court and said that new oil licenses should be illegal for climate reasons, but a dissenting court acquitted the Norwegian state in December.  

Short-term gains for the Greenlanders

For Greenland, there are commercial gains in the short term with climate change.

When the ice sheet melts, tons of sand and gravel are released.  

According to a Danish study, it could create a profitable export industry because sand is a raw material that the global construction industry is crying out for.  

The fishing industry in Greenland is booming right now as cod, halibut and other valuable food fish move north in search of cooler temperatures, as the oceans warm to the south. 

But fishermen know that it is a winning lottery that will be short-lived.